More than most Labor Days, I suspect that this year's official "end of summer" (yes, yes, autumnal equinox is 2 weeks away... but you know what I mean) is meant to be a real "restart" for many people and many issues. Summer in America is all about escape, and our escapist tendencies, I think, have kicked in a little more than ever in this post economic apocalypse year. Take the vacation while you can... or don't worry about the job search until later... I've just seen a lot of "I'll think about it tomorrow" or more like next month, especially all through August.
Tomorrow, a lot of that putting off will come due, especially in terms of our national politics. In two days, President Obama is giving two major speeches, one to "reset" the health care debate, the other to indoctrinate children into his unholy schemes to... oh, sorry. Just kidding.
The serious side is that President Obama will return to the national stage - and let's give credit to him actually taking "vacation" seriously enough to not make a lot of public appearances, except for the most necessary one (Kennedy's funeral) - to a nation that is not what it was, even a few months ago. The distinct sense that there's more bad than good right now, that people are growing disillusioned with the President, Congress, and government generally, can't really be ignored. Whether anyone, even the President, can fix that, remains to be seen.
But in some ways, contrarian that I am, I think "disillusion" is the wrong word - perhaps the more useful way to think about what's changed, especially over August, is that illusions, dreams, and fantasies have come hard up against some necessary realities. The limits of Presidential power, of the potential for massive progressive change, of stopping real change solely through fear, anger and desperation... these things needed to sink in. And maybe, when President Obama returns to the national stage, we can see him in a more realistic, human way... and begin to make progress - however slowly - on the real problems we face.
Of course, I've never been one to agree to the "he's the one" presentations of the President; I was leery of it back during the primaries, and when I turned to supporting him, it was as much about limitations as it was strengths. I've been openly skeptical of ideas that a President Obama, or a wildly progressive Obama Administration (if it was ever going to be that) could really up-end years of painful status quo politics.
Still, I think much of the past nine months has passed in a kind of semi-dream world; where occasional punctures of reality - the continued sense of economic distress even if statistically, the "worst" is over, or the struggles to create healthcare reform bills dragging on and on - couldn't quite pierce the faith of the most diehard true believers. Up until I think about June, President Obama enjoyed a pleasant coasting of public opinion, as progressives backed him solidly and much of the inconsistent middle - whose political decisions can seem capricious to those of us who've picked a side - at least found little to quarrel with in his policies and proposals.
Since then, for a number of reasons, there's been a swift, and steep fall. Partly, it's that conservatives, feeling further and further cornered, simply amped up their complaints and appeals to fears and distrust in the public. By August that culminated in the "death panel" foolishness and angry disruptions at local meetings with government officials, and in spurious attacks on things like the education speech, or Van Jones, Obama's "Green Jobs" advisor who resigned over this weekend. At the same time, progressive disillusionment has grown over the same things - a sense that right wing anger can hijack "serious discussions of issues, the reality that Obama will seek workable compromises to achieve limited legislative goals, and the failure to push back - if it were possible - on attacks over a "socialist agenda" or individuals like Van Jones.
And so, a number of illusions come hard up against reality:
- Hardcore progressive ideas - like single payer, or extreme environmentalism - do not have wide support. Progressive communities, especially on the blogs, since before the election have been convincing themselves of "everyone must know" concepts, like the idea of single payer healthcare, without explaining them fully to people outside their circles. That's part of the reason why "cap and trade" isn't working out, and why too much insistence on a "public option" has warped the healthcare reform discussion. Progressives have work to do in really selling the ideas to a wide audience, and in figuring out what incremental steps can be acceptable in pursuit of a larger goal.
- "Change you can believe in" runs hard up against the fact that people still fear radical change. Healthcare reform, in particular, suffers from the sense of "too much and too big" - because Congress is dealing with multiple proposals, there is no "Obama plan" to point to, and plenty of opportunities to pick out extreme, often irrelevant elements and make them the focus of opposition. That may be unfair (and people like Betsy McCaughey will, one day, get called for it), but the opposition attacks of August worked because exploiting people's fears is a strategy that works. And Lefty types have yet to respond firmly and decisively to exercises in scare mongering.
- The left really is negotiating with itself. The illusion that Republicans have anything serious to offer, as a party, was thoroughly discredited in the election of 2008; still, it was reasonable to reach out the surviving GOP oficials to try and see if they'd learned anything. They haven't. Which means that the real workable compromises - on healthcare, the environment, labor issues and more - will have to be built by Democrats who come to the table with different political philosophies... which also means admitting that our party is not necessarily as united, or coherent, as we might like. Failing to be honest about this, and to face up to the new realities, has probably hurt health reform especially... but if Obama can set up better expectations, and lay out some firm goals on his part, there might be a solution.
- New Presidential Administrations make mistakes. It was unrealistic to expect a perfect, fully formed Administration that coiuld do no wrong. It's okay that they've made mistakes... even big ones like "not doing health reform ike Clinton did it" only to create a new set of mess-ups. What's not okay is failing to learn from them... and we have yet to see if the Obama Administration can adapt and learn from failure.
- Mr. Obama deals in big ideas... and not so much in specifics. This illusion is something we knew going in... but many, I think, refused to listen when this was brought up. While President Obama offers the welcome quality of taking the personal, emotional approach to politics out of the equation, he still needs to go from generalized exhortations no one really disagrees with to specific proposals and policies that can be acted upon. Progresisves may have loathed the supposed "centrism" of Clinton's policies... but his ability to connect, personally and emoptionally, was an enormous stength that I think many miss. Perversely, I think conservatives, who never liked Clinton's policies or his style, have resorted to a shrill imitation of his approach: purely emotional, unreasoned responses that offer no real alternative. Progressives, I think, continue to have faith in emotional appeals (look, the nice lady can't get her pills because she has no insurance) over serious arguments for good policy (people need healthcare, nice or not, and shouldn't have to wonder if kind strangers will sympathize with them or not as a way to get help). The President, with his solid speaking skills, could help bridge this divide... but he needs to work on taking his generalized, lofty rhetoric and translating it better into specific, well reasoned, proposals.
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